I know what you mean. I prefer my dark elves to be unseelie folks, rather than bad mutha dominatrixes. That's why I was considering replacing Lolth, or changing Lolth's role, with an unseelie deity that would be Corellon's Opposite. After I ran it with the original story, first.

Your call as the DM, but...

The drow are an evil and malign race as originally conceived, and their temper is thus correctly spider-like

The drow are an evil and malign race as originally conceived, and their temper is thus correctly spider-like

OR they have the same temperament as some vipers. Spider or snake. Although both kinds use different tactics, the base strategy is the same. Lie in wait, and then ambush. I'd like my drow to be different. The Dominatrix culture provides a contrast to normal patriarchial culture, but I'd rather be happy and not follow in Forgotten Realms' wake.

You really did very good work, Gary. You'd have a right to be angry, but anything: module or sourcebook or otherwise; that falls into my hands is mine to do with as I please.

My cousin actually came by yesterday and traded me A1-4 and D1-3 today for one of my 3e books. I was reading "Vault of the Drow" and "Descent into the Depths of the Earth" and the first thing that threw me off was the layout. Actually, it's the only thing that threw me off.

Now there's an idea! I hope the good Colonel doesn't slip any into Castle Zagyg (unless they were originally present; which I don't believe is the case) but if he finds himself with any free time and has nothing better to do a return to the lair of the Dark Elves for C&C would be a welcome addition!

Well, you certainly got the better end of the bargain, imho, with regards to the trade!

Gray Mouser

Yeah. six 32 page books for one WotC Manual of the Planes. Yes, it was a better deal. Now, only if I can wrangle his copy of WotC's Unearthed Arcana I can write a 3rd "Classic Play" mod using gestalt pre-gens.

Just look at the verses he quotes full of dialectic and anachronistic words and spellings.

(The casual reader may not immediately perceive this to be a blatant obfuscatory feint.)

Early in our relationship I asked about terminology which arguably incommoded percipience. Gary's sagacious retort -- that "the readers can look it up" -- clearly defined the parameters of the campaign: style would not be sacrificed to specious arguments for marketability. A hard-boiled EGG you are, to be sure.

Gygaxian erudition may have contributed to the '80s boom in Dictionaries of Obscure and Preposterous Words, and I must blame (or credit) you for my study of same. And tho you have not oft employed dialects (certainly not avoiding same for plebian reasons of political correctness, I'm sure), they rest in an adjacent etymological niche.

But beware of Scots with cabers... and honor those who created shortbreads.

(The casual reader may not immediately perceive this to be a blatant obfuscatory feint.)

Early in our relationship I asked about terminology which arguably incommoded percipience. Gary's sagacious retort -- that "the readers can look it up" -- clearly defined the parameters of the campaign: style would not be sacrificed to specious arguments for marketability. A hard-boiled EGG you are, to be sure.

And when it's all said and done, this is why I love 1st edition (A)D&D. "The readers can look it up", and many did. Vocabularies increased, minds expanded, horizons broadened. I miss that attitude in gaming. Thank you both for treating your readers as intelligent (or at least intelligent enough to learn).

"From The Sorcerer's Scroll: D&D, AD&D, and Gaming," by Gary Gygax (The Dragon #26, June 1979):

Because D&D allowed such freedom, because the work itself said so, because the initial batch of DMs were so imaginative and creative, because the rules wre incomplete, vague and often ambiguous, D&D has turned into a non-game. That is, there is so much variation between the way the game is played from region to region, state to state, area to area, and even from group to group within a metropolitan district, there is no continuity and little agreement as to just what the game is and how best to play it. Without destroying the imagination and individual creativity which go into a campaign, AD&D rectifies the shortcomings of D&D. There are few grey areas in AD&D, and there will be no question in the mind of participants as to what the game is and is all about. There is form and structure to AD&D, and any variation of these integral portions of the game will obviously make it something else. The work addresses itself to a broad audience of hundreds of thousands of peopleŚwargamers, game hobbyists, science fiction and fantasy fans, those who have never read fantasy fiction or played strategy games, young and old, male and female.

AD&D will eventually consist of DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE, PLAYERS HANDBOOK, GODS, DEMI-GODS & HEROES, and MONSTER MANUAL and undoubtedly one or two additional volumes of creatures with which to fill fantasy worlds. These books, together with a broad range of modules and various playing aids, will provide enthusiasts with everything they need to create and maintain an enjoyable, exciting, fresh, and ever-challenging campaign. Readers are encouraged to differentiate their campaigns, calling them AD&D if they are so. While D&D campaigns can be those which feature comic book spells, 43rd level balrogs as player characters, and include a plethora of trash from various and sundry sources, AD&D cannot be so composed. Either a DM runs an AD&D campaign, or else it is something else. This is clearly stated within the work, and it is a mandate which will be unchanging, even if AD&D undergoes change at some future date. While DMs are free to allow many unique features to become a part of their campaignŚspecial magic items, new monsters, different spells, unusual settingsŚand while they can have free rein in devising the features and facts pertaining to the various planes which surround the Prime Material, it is understood they must adhere to the form of AD&D. Otherwise what they referee is a variant adventure game. DMs still create an entire milieu, populate it and give it history and meaning. Players still develop personae and adventure in realms of the strange and fantastic, performing deeds of derring-do, but this all follows a master plan.

**************************
I was browsing some PDFs from the Dragon Archives and came across this From the Sorcerer's Scroll column by Gary. Therein, Gary perfectly describes the situation with D&D at the time AD&D was published. I just thought I'd point out how his "non-game" description perfecty describes the state of "2nd Edition" by the mid-ninties, with the proliferation of "splatbooks" and other rules expansions.

I can attest that no two groups played AD&D the same. Most DMs and players, rather than playing AD&D, "played at the game" (as Gary once said in Poker, Chess, and the AD&D System), making a game out of tweaking and cherry-picking proficiencies, kits, and so on from the various books to make a mish-mash of a "system." As a DM during that era, I constantly had to fight players that wanted to incorporate this or that from other sources (things like the Bladesinger) that really disrupted the core of the system and originated from sources that certainly were not playtested.

"While D&D campaigns can be those which feature comic book spells, 43rd level balrogs as player characters . . .": It seems we have come full circle . . . the original D&D game allowed for super-characters, and now the d20 version does much the same.